CHALLENGE TO DU: Best photo of extreme wealth and poverty in the same shot?

[yurbud]

I have this vision of the conservative utopia looking like a shining, gated community on a hill with the rest of us living in a cardboard box shantytown at the foot of the hill, picking through the trash and sewage that ''trickles down'' from the gated community to survive.

The photo that best captures that with the right caption might capture the imagination of independents who sometimes swing toward the conservatives.

What have you got?

[Sub Atomic]

1. Sao Paolo

[Bluebear]

3. FTW - that didn't take long!

[yurbud]

5. that will be tough to beat! thanks!

What's the source?

[Sub Atomic]

7. Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sao_paolo

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. That's a GREAT view from that high-rise.

Something I'd just LOVE so see when I step out onto my balcony.

[amborin]

20. those apartments on the left look

fairly middle class, for Brazil

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

114. No. It's a favela. Brazilian middle class looks like this:

[Occulus]

46. For all that it looks run-down, though

I think I'd probably be happier on the left side of that photo.

The high-rise on the right looks somehow.... sterile.

[hyphenate]

101. Oh, I don't know

I could get used to that kind of apartment very easily!

(Strangely enough, I've been working on a story for awhile, with the main character living in a penthouse in London. The one I picked is absolutely gorgeous, and in some ways has that same kind of "feel" to it)

[Liberal_in_LA]

48. one of the 'shacks' has 3 nice cars parked in front (left, bottom corner)

[bobbolink]

94. probably the cops.

:shrug:

[Mira]

76. OH WOW.

That's probably the best anyone has. Even including a wall of separation.
An amazing and very sobering photo.

[bobbolink]

88. Those are some really DUMB rich folks! They didn't buy up the whole hill, and

now they see what they don't want to see from their balconies.

Maybe they will all get drunk and drown in their balcony hot tubs.

Is this photo copyrighted, do you know?

[Monk06]

111. Love the stack of 'fuck you poor people' jacuzzis with the cinder block walls protecting them.

I wonder how many times someone on the left
busts a cap into the building on the right?

[CrispyQ]

2. Kicking & responding to come back & see what others post,

cuz I think this is an excellent idea! Consider cross-posting in the Photography forum, too.

[joeybee12]

4. The person who wins, IMHO, is the one who shows the slums of DC

with Congress in the background.

[yurbud]

6. ouch! that would probably be good.

[joeybee12]

8. I have seen that photo, but can't recall where...I should google and win! n/t

[sufrommich]

9. I'm at work and can't post pics, but I believe there was a photo

from the depression of very poor people watching 2 high society ladies in furs coming out of a restaurant.The photo was quite iconic of the period and well known.

[yurbud]

26. find it when you get home!

[HughBeaumont]

27. Post 22 -

[sufrommich]

64. That's the one. Thanks. nt

[pnorman]

72. I recall that one well, but those women weren't in dire poverty.

The shot was by the renowned newspaper photographer "Weegee".

[eyeofdelphi]

122. The Fashionable People or The Critic

the photo you're referring to is by Weegee, one of my all time favorite photographers. His work is really awesome.
here is a piece from the paper i wrote in college about him:

His most well known photograph “The Critic” was taken in 1943 at the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera. Although he never admitted it, he staged this photo. He used a woman who was a regular at Sammy’s, luring her with wine to the opera. Waiting for the right moment, he had his assistant let her go right when two of the most well known, wealthy women of New York were entering the theatre. The women were draped in fur and covered in jewels. The drunken woman stands to the side looking aghast at the ostentatious display of finery during wartime while everyone else in America is cutting back and doing without. It’s even more amusing that the rich women only have eyes for the camera, smiling for the photographer, never noticing the drunken woman to their left. This photograph was even used as propaganda by the Nazis. Late in 1943, during the invasion of Anzio, Italy, leaflets were dropped out of the sky into the foxholes, where one Charles Kavenaugh sat. The leaflets had the photo “The Critic” and the words “GIs, is this what you’re fighting for?” Kavenaugh was too embarrassed to mention to anyone that one of the rich women in the photo was his grandmother.

http://museum.icp.org/museum/collections/special/weegee/

here's a link to the photo. i don't know why it wouldn't let me paste the actual photo, oh well.

[democrat_patriot]

10. Not as good as San Paulo

[yurbud]

25. that would be great if the rich houses were finished and landscaped.

[Richard D]

11. A painting

[yurbud]

28. that sums it up.

[dysfunctional press]

108. are there any lines for folding it into another image...?

in a way, it 'feels' a lot like the inside back cover of mad magazine.

[Cirque du So-What]

12. This one is limited in scope

but still illuminates disparity in wealth.

[yurbud]

29. ouch! good one.

[blondeatlast]

90. Like the first one, stunning in in its simple eloquence. nt

[northofdenali]

116. Arrrow right to the heart. n/t

[liberalhistorian]

13. Someone here has a sig pic and caption that is

just mindblowing. One side of the pic shows a very fat white American child holding onto either an ice cream cone or french fries (can't remember which right now), with rolls in his arms (and I've seen such children, sadly enough) and his right arm is extending out of the picture. The other side of the picture is a barely-alive, starving, ribs-showing young black child (I think African, but not sure), crying and holding out his arm in what looks like an attempt to grab the extended right arm of the fat child. The caption says something sarcastic about the joys of capitalism, if I'm remembering correctly.

I know it was the splicing of two pictures and not a "real" one, but it still kinda gets this point across vividly and in a heartwrenching way. I don't remember the DU'ers name, unfortunately. I think I might have bookmarked one of his threads in order to keep the pic, I'll look for it.

[yurbud]

30. that would be good!

[LeftyFingerPop]

14. Depression era

[JPZenger]

15. 1960s Photo of shacks with US Capitol Dome in background

There was a famous photo from the 1960s that showed rundown slums with the US Capitol Dome prominently in the back of the photo. The dome looked like it was 4 blocks away. Homes in that neighborhood are now worth big bucks.

[yurbud]

35. great one

[FourScore]

47. That's the first one I thought of. Says it all. n/t

[gateley]

79. Wow. nt

[demwing]

16. Go get yourself some cheap sunglasses

[demwing]

39. You smell fabulous!

[demwing]

43. Bag Lady

[spinbaby]

17. There was a photo my father took

I can't post it because it's in the attic, not on line. It was taken in Russia about 1940 and shows some kind of an impressive church procession that seems to be quite literally gem encrusted. It's surrounded by a crowd of people who are in rags and barefoot.

[RagAss]

102. Sounds like that photo essentially tells the story of mankind.

[Libertas1776]

19. Its an old one, circa 1938, but its got the Capitol

[yurbud]

34. dead link for image

[Libertas1776]

38. ...

http://www.shorpy.com/node/6273

[yurbud]

83. thanks!

[JCMach1]

21. Here is one that picks up on the theme

[yurbud]

23. that inspires a whole different theme: shanty towns made with corporate branded boxes

[JCMach1]

31. True... this was Nepal...

hence the communist symbol on the village water supply.

[bobbolink]

95. That would make a great photoshop project!

great idea!

[HughBeaumont]

22. Who can forget this classic from WeeGee - "The Critic"

"The Critic" is probably Weegee's most famous image, and certainly his most widely published. The opening night of the Metropolitan Opera in 1943 was advertised as a Diamond Jubilee to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the company. In a recent interview, Louie Liotta, a photographer who acted as Weegee's assistant, recalled that Weegee has been planning this photograph for a while. Liotta, at Weegee's request, picked up one of the regular women customers at Sammy's on the Bowery at about 6:30 p.m. With a sufficient amount of cheap wine for the woman, they proceeded to the opera house. When they arrived, the limousines owned by the members of high society were just beginning to discharge their passengers. Weegee asked Liotta to hold the now intoxicated woman near the curb as he stood about twenty feet away from the front doors of the opera house. With a signal worked out in advance, Weegee gave the sign to Liotta, who releasd the woman, hoping all the while that she could keep her balance long enough for Weegee to expose several plates.

The moment had finally arrived: Mrs. George Washington Kavenaugh and Lady Decies were spotted getting out of a limousine. Both women were generous benefactors to numerous cultural institutions in New York and Philadelphia, and Weegee knew that they were known to every newspaper in New York. Liotta recalled the moment he released the disheveled woman: "It was like an explosion. I thought I went blind from the three or four flash exposures which Weegee made within a very few seconds." For his part, Weegee told the story that he "discovered" the woman viewing the opera patrons after the negative had been developed, never revealing the prank, saying it was as much a surprise to him as anyone.

The photograph that LIFE printed, which is the version most often reproduced, is only one third of the original negative. On the opposite page from the women arriving at the opera was another photograph by Weegee taken during the performance of the opera with the caption, "The plain people waited in line for hours to get standing room, listened intently and, as always, showed better musical manners than the people sitting in boxes." This contrast of images, the rich with the jewels, and the well-mannered "plain people" was exactly what Weegee was striving for in all of his photography. The incongruence of life, between the rich and poor, the victims and the rescued, the murdered and the living - his photographs had the ability to make us all eyewitnesses and voyeurs. The first time the photo appeared with the actual title, "The Critic," was in Weegee's own book, Naked City.

[gmoney]

67. So it's staged? That's disappointing...

But I guess back in the 40s, some folks didn't have any more ethics than they do today...

[XemaSab]

92. The first woman looks like the Chimp in drag

:scared:

[HughBeaumont]

97. Old money; no doubt probably a distant relative to the Shrub.

[MineralMan]

24. Caracas, Venezuela

[yurbud]

32. that's a good one

[Tim01]

36. Dear god! nt

[skipos]

44. That one gets my vote. nt

[dana_b]

77. oh my

that is amazing. There doesn't even seem to be any organization with the houses on the left. Stick them anywhere they will fit.

[hunter]

78. Highways make good walls.

:(

[MineralMan]

33. Not a photo, but Google "Slum Tour"

Not a nice picture in my head...

[bigtree]

37. 'just love me brother'

. . . shot I took of a man sitting at the back of the Million Man March rally in D.C.. Asked the fellow what I could do for him . . .

[Supersedeas]

40. Faris Odeh

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Faris_odeh03a.jpg

[yurbud]

57. dead link for image

[Generic Other]

41. The original Hooverville, Seattle, 1937

[Generic Other]

42. Unemployed capitalist sells apples on Wall Street

[yurbud]

58. I'm from Portland, so that's close to home.

[Union Yes]

45. LA, Chicago, NYC, Dallas, Houston, Philly, Baltimore, and exhibit A: D.C. nt

[Barack_America]

49. The Detroit/Grosse Pointe border.

For further reference:



"I don't have pics of the houses anymore (I used original reality links that no longer exist), but they were both 2-story brick colonials built around the same time. These two houses are less than 1/2 mile apart yet one costs 10x as much as the other."

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=234519

[yurbud]

59. the Detroit side looks like Hiroshima or something

[Jim__]

50. I don't have a picture but this is a great thread. - n/t

[rug]

51. Reminds me of this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0Ml2h9NK-Y

[yurbud]

60. wow. the part when the train was gone really got me.

everybody resets like it was nothing.

[TeeYiYi]

80. Wow. nt

TYY

[pnorman]

52. Not a photo, but here;s something I found on DU a while back:

[pnorman]

54. Also not a photo:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5116901&mesg_id=5118830

[yurbud]

66. Did you put that together?

If so, I'd like to put it together with a caption, and post it on my blog if you don't mind.

[pnorman]

71. Yes. I came across that photo in a series on child labor in the US that I had found on the internet.

That poem that fit it so perfectly, was a barely remembered one that took some diligent Googling to locate. I thought it was a very appropriate match, and apparently so do you.

Feel free to use it in any manner you choose to do. As a request, please give me the URL of the website when you do so.

[yurbud]

86. no problem

[yurbud]

65. that's great!

[tekisui]

53. Not as god as Sao Paulo,but here is US/Mexico:

[yurbud]

63. which side is which?

[begin_within]

106. San Diego County on the left, Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico on the right.

I've driven on that road in Tijuana and it really is striking.

[REP]

55. The Critic - Weegee

[yurbud]

62. someone should do an update of this. Maybe several.

[gmoney]

68. staged... see post upthread

I guess these ladies were "punk'd" by Mr. Weegee...

[REP]

70. Crap, didn't see it was already posted! I'll go with "great minds" instead "bad eyes"

[Arugula Latte]

56. Mumbai:

[yurbud]

61. that's good

[DemoTex]

69. The Bu$hes in NOLA post-Katrina

(I was looking for a Photoshop of Barbara Bu$h in the NOLA Superdome)

[Juche]

73. Someone got the Brazil one pretty fast

That is probably the best image I can think of. I found this

[ChaoticSilly]

74. Not a photo

and definitely not my best work, but here are a couple of images I made a few years ago

[gateley]

81. Those are really good! nt

[ChaoticSilly]

105. Thanks! nt

[Occulus]

123. What tools did you use?

I'm waiting for Blender 2.5 to be released so I can relearn the damn interface. I use Yaf(a)ray or Lux for renders and use the GIMP for retouching...

[northofdenali]

75. Just one state.

'nuff said here. Of course, up the middle of the red zone, you could make a really green one if you followed the Pipeline.

[yurbud]

84. I wonder if a lot of states wouldn't look like that since rural areas are a handful of farmers and a

lot of illegal immigrant workers.

[northofdenali]

115. Most of the red rural areas you see are Native Alaskan areas.

No infrastructure (roads, railroad or airports). In by boat/snow machine/dogsled depending on season. Villages scattered everywhere, but no public safety officers. No clinics. No medical facilities. No way to earn money except by "moving to town" (Anchorage, Fairbanks).

Pretty dismal. And our small town of Fairbanks is going down, too. Lots of big box stores shot up in the last 4 years but no one can afford to shop there. Except the oil workers and the military.

[dysfunctional press]

109. i don't think too many people would consider $43,720/yr. to be "wealthy" though...

most states would probably show even larger discrepencies between regions.

[northofdenali]

121. That's "per person" so double it for a a husband//wife.

With our gasoline prices at $3.29, heating oil at $3.12, double the prices of groceries from the lower 48 - poverty ie easily attainable at $43,720 for a family of 5. My last fillup for heating oil in a 1000 gallon tank was nearly $4000. I can't do that any more, so I buy 100 gal. at a time when I've save the $340 to do it.

[dysfunctional press]

110. i don't think too many people would consider $43,720/yr. to be "wealthy" though...

most states would probably show even larger discrepencies between regions.

[Contrary1]

82. Delete - Picture already submitted

[stevedeshazer]

85. The Bonus Army, 1932

[eleny]

87. two

[bobbolink]

93. Thank you very much, eleny, especially for that top one!

Do you have any idea if it is public domain?

Have you come across any good ones that are public domain?

[eleny]

98. nope

i took a walk on the low road and "gleaped" these.

[bobbolink]

99. You've been listening to Mario?

:hi:

If you come across ones that you think would fit our needs, please send up a flare!

Thanks!

[eleny]

103. I try not to listen!

:hi:

[yurbud]

119. good one

[Blue-Jay]

89. .

[Yurovsky]

91. Manilla, Phillipines...

[undeterred]

96. ...

[yurbud]

120. good but sad

[catzies]

100. This thread was a really good thing you did. I like it a lot, see that others do too

Lots of food for thought here, and these are only the ones who have Googleable pics.

Very very nice.

[yurbud]

118. thanks

[tkmorris]

104. Terrific thread

[tosh]

107. kick & bookmark

[change_notfinetuning]

112. Mexico City

[yurbud]

117. that's pretty good. Have it in a higher resolution?

[change_notfinetuning]

124. I don't, but I found it Googling "rich and poor Mexico", if that's any help.

[bobbolink]

113. Here's one you'll love, if you can make it big enough to see...

From the Library of Congress:



Cartoon shows a group of homeless people huddled in the snow warming themselves against a small fire outside the gates of the White House in Washington.

News item: world finance centers and multinationals express unparalled enthusiasm over the smooth transition period between the Reagan Bush teams

"I have this vision of the conservative utopia looking like a shining, gated community on a hill with the rest of us living in a cardboard box shantytown at the foot of the hill, picking through the trash and sewage that ''trickles down'' from the gated community to survive."

I think this meets your qualifications. :hi:

Thank you for this "challenge"--you sent me on a hunt........